Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

AUSTIN, April 7 – Gangsters and cops on the take in Texas might want to pay heed to a proposed law that looks to combat public corruption and prosecute gang-related crimes with more voracity.

Senate Bill 11 would make threats against a family member of a person being solicited to participate in gang activity a state jail felony, which carries with it a punishment of 180 days to two years in state prison. A $10,000 fine could also be attached.

A threat made by a member of a criminal street gang to a member of the general public would also be a state jail felony, and a gang member who directs a juvenile to commit a crime would be subject to the punishment associated with the crime if it was committed in furtherance of gang activity.

Bill co-author, Sen. John Corona, D-Dallas, said the bill was a response to the growing threats transnational gangs and their associations with cartels present to the nation. Though street gangs and cartels are seen by most as a threat only to the border, Corona argued that is not the case.

“It’s a national problem and any city in Texas with a population of 100,000 or more, in all likelihood, has gang activity so I consider it, based on our studies, to be the No.1 homeland security issue that Texas faces presently,” he said.

When asked if the increase in punishment levels and prosecution could drain already understaffed district attorneys offices in Texas, Corona said the enforcement has to be done.

“I think that we have no choice but to commit the resources,” he said. “Any time an individual is put at risk by a gang or the family of an individual is targeted and tormented as a means of influencing gang involvement or gang activity, we have an obligation to step in.”

The bill would also mandate that the Texas Fusion Center produce an annual gang report that would then be given to the office of the governor.

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, co-authored the bill and said it gives the Texas Department of Public Safety the resources it needs to create intelligence-gathering units that could share information and help dismantle cartel operations.

“For us the real issue is gathering the essential intelligence to target king pins and their lieutenants to take them out. During the Barrio Azteca (street gang) case (in El Paso) we learned a great deal about the connection between cartels and Texas gangs,” he said. “So identifying those connections, those kingpins - from where they store their assets, to stash houses, the cash, the weapons going south - all of these pieces will be easier to track and forfeit with the tools in this bill.”

The bill would also create a “law-enforcement integrity unit” within the Texas Rangers that would investigate law-enforcement corruption by criminal street gangs and organized crime. Public corruption, Shapleigh said, is something he expects will only increase.

“Over the next few years we will see even more,” he said. “Public corruption in places of power is linked to money and when cartels are dealing with such large sums of money they have the power to corrupt customs officials, border patrol officials, local police (and) even judges to look the other way. I believe we will see more of that and Senate bill11 gives us tools to specifically address public corruption.”

Corona said even “the finest” members of law enforcement could succumb to temptation but said the bill would provide the tools needed to “snuff out any type of internal corruption as early as it is detected.”

Corona said the bill was also carefully crafted to fall within realistic budget guidelines, even when money, by all accounts, in considered very tight.

“Everything we proposed is or will be provided under the budget that will be passed by the end of May and we have been very careful to deploy existing resources in a smarter fashion,” he said. “I think we will be able to get more done and we will definitely be able to disrupt gang activity and development.”

The bill further looks to hit gangsters in the pocket book by raising the cap on penalties a prosecutor can recover for violating a gang injunction from $10,000 to $100,000, and by making gang members liable for monetary damages they inflict on property.

The bill would also allow that a person convicted of a gang offense have their driver’s license suspended for a year, allow a judge to sentence a person convicted of multiple gang offenses to serve consecutive sentences and would also require persons convicted of gang-related offenses to register in a database annually, similar to what is currently required of sex offenders.

The bill also seeks to get tougher on gunrunning by creating a new offense for firearm smuggling if the trafficker knowingly possesses, transports or transfers a firearm in violation of the law. The penalty would be a third-degree felony unless three or more weapons were involved, which would cause the penalty to be increased to a second-degree felony. If the alleged smuggler was acting for profit, the penalties would be increased to the next highest level.

The bill was voted out of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security on Monday.